Journal of Petroleum & Environmental Biotechnology

Synthesis and viscometric behavior of a novel associative polymer for enhanced oil recovery

2^nd International Conference and Expo on Oil and Gas

October 27-28, 2016 Rome, Italy

Hassan Zabihi

London South Bank University, UK

Posters & Accepted Abstracts: J Pet Environ Biotechnol

Abstract:

Polymer flooding is a highly beneficial EOR technique to improve oil displacement. A large number of polymers have been developed to overcome some limitations of conventional polymers to enhance oil recovery. Hydrophobically modified water soluble polymers are a type that has been introduced to oil field application for the past two decades. The main characteristics of these polymers are their significant enhancement of water viscosity compared with the conventional polymers such as hydrolyzed poly acrylamide (HPAM) and their salinity tolerance that would be more important in the real application. In this study, Hydrophobically associative polymer poly-phenylacrylamide (PPAM) were prepared by an aqueous micellar copolymerization technique from acrylamide and a small amount of n-phenylacrylamide as hydrophobe monomer. The properties of poly-phenylacrylamide were investigated in aqueous solution under various conditions. The results showed that the solution properties were strongly affected by the microstructure of copolymer. The copolymers with hydrophobic microblocky structure exhibited large viscosity enhancement due to the inter-molecular hydrophobic association. The hydrophobic association thickening behaviors were also dependent on the number and length of the hydrophobic block in polymer chain. Non-linear viscosity relationship was found as increasing hydrophobe content, and a maximum appeared as a result of the competitive effect between inter- and intra-molecular hydrophobic associations. A rapid viscosity enhancement was observed upon the addition of SDS below its critical micelle concentration. Solution properties were further studied as a function of the polymer concentration, salinity, shear rate and temperature.

Biography :

Email: zabihi_hasan@yahoo.com